The spirit of Scarlett O’Hara seemingly has released me, and I feel a little contrite about my blog posting yesterday. Virgin Atlantic personnel didn’t cover themselves with glory, but they also did not earn eternal suffering.

When I wrote that blog, I was four hours into a 13-hour day of travel, and much happened thereafter. A gate agent–as opposed to the giddy ticketing agent I mischaracterized as a gate agent yesterday–did reveal an actual reason for re-assigned seating: a late equipment change, to a smaller plane. She still maintained, as did the reservations agent in Utah and the giddy ticketing agent, that she could not change seats. I have had seats changed by all three of those agent types on other airlines, including by an American gate agent two weeks ago.

Although it was surely not VA’s fault, the screens and scanner at the gate weren’t working, so every ten minutes someone reminded us of our flight number and destination, and when we boarded, someone wrote each seat assignment on a piece of paper. Not First Worldish.

The jetway line was unremarkable. The plane was a new world.

Everything worked on the plane, and it was not at all full. After we all sat in our assigned seats, but before pushback, clever flight attendants moved us around like chess pieces, reuniting at least three couples. All the couples ended up with empty middle seats, as did the travelers they had been squashed between. It was an epic rebound.

One only wonders who did the original re-assignments. A sentient computer with a grudge toward carbon entities? A dyslexic Tetris champ? A swarm of termites?

Continuing to atone, I will give VA thumbs-up for a few things:

• Those amazing flight attendants described above.
• Their innuendo-drenched, high-energy, song-and-dance safety demonstration video. Watching a mini-skirted flight attendant writhe into her seat belt, my husband said, I think I may need assistance. It was just as riveting the second time.
• They threaten to gate-check, but so far I haven’t witnessed it. Gate-check is one of my new airline-greed-induced phobias.
• There are video screens in every seat with an excellent selection of movies, at least on the long flights. I saw Creed eastbound and Chasing Mavericks homebound.
• In addition to being free, the entertainment could be scheduled by the passenger, and it automatically paused during announcements. Very First Worldish.

Needless to say, the flight was pleasant and uneventful. Less than two hours after touchdown, we were eating fish tacos while enjoying an ocean view in Half Moon Bay, with no snow in sight.